Around the Mountain: Mountain West freshmen making big contributions

Issac Williamson wanted to be a Lobo.

He visited the Pit from his home in California, went to Lobo games, signed a National Letter of Intent to play for Richard Pitino in November 2024.

Then, Pitino and staff bolted for Xavier and Eric Olen was hired to coach UNM.

Olen recruited Williamson while he was the coach at UC San Diego, but the numbers game (UNM has four freshmen on its roster) came into play and Williamson found a new home at UNLV with first-year coach Josh Pastner.

Sunday, the always up-and-down Rebels, holders of two home losses as double-digit favorites already this season, traveled to Memphis as a double-digit underdog and beat the Tigers, the team Pastner coached to four NCAA Tournaments between 2010 and 2016.

How’d they do it?

The Rebels were led by a shocking 25 points (and six made 3-pointers) by Williamson and 14 points from fellow freshman Tyrin Jones.

Including those two performances, UNLV freshmen have scored in double-digits five times already this season — a not-so-uncommon occurrence so far in the Mountain West.

UNM has had a league-high seven games in which one of its freshmen scored in double figures — two apiece from guards Jake Hall and Uriah Tenette, and three from Tomislav Buljan, who is the only freshman (and one of only four players of any class) averaging a double-double in the league.

High roster turnover, says at least one freshman, is playing a part in the outstanding play by newcomers to college basketball.

“I think just the whole environment — everyone being new — I think it definitely gave me confidence to be able to come in as a freshman, because everyone’s new. Everyone has a fair shot in the rotation, starting and whatnot,” said Hall, who along with Tenette led the Lobos in scoring in their first regular season college game, each scoring 14 points against East Texas A&M on Nov. 5.

“Just having that confidence and not having older guys who are bashing on you because you’re a freshman, or anything, like everyone opened to us freshmen with open arms and they’re really excited and keep feeding confidence.”

In a the portal era where everyone emphasizes transfer recruiting — so much so Air Force coach Joe Scott lamented at October’s Mountain West Media Day that no league coach but him would even recruit freshmen — the Mountain West freshman class is quietly having one of the best starts to a season ever.

Over the first two weeks of the season, freshmen have scored in double figures 33 times. This includes five games by international players who, like UNM’s Buljan, are in their 20s and have played in professional leagues overseas.

Still, through the entire month of November 2024 — four weeks of games — Mountain West freshman scored in double figures 13 times.

10 or more pts by MW freshmen:

• November 2024 (four weeks of games): 13

• November 2025 (two weeks of games): 33

Here’s a breakdown of double-digit scoring games by freshmen, with league newcomer Grand Canyon included, in November 2024 and November 2025:

Air Force: 2 — 4

Boise State: 1 — 4

Colorado State: 1 — 0

Fresno State: 3 — 2

Grand Canyon: 0 — 1

Nevada: 0 — 0

New Mexico: 2 — 7

San Diego State: 3 — 2

San Jose State: 0 — 2

UNLV: 0 — 5

Utah State: 1 — 3

Wyoming: 0 — 3

Poll position

No Mountain West team was ranked in Monday’s new Associated Press Top 25 poll, but two showed up in the “others receiving votes” section.

• San Diego State: 71 points, one spot out of being ranked, appeared on 15 of 61 ballots, top vote 16 by Mark Berman of the Roanoke (Virginia) Times.
• Utah State: two points, 14 spots out of being ranked, appeared on one of 61 ballots, top vote 24 by Berman.

Note: No. 25 NC State, the last team ranked, has 97 points this week.

Players of the week

Here are the league’s weekly winners:

MW Player of the Week: Utah State F Garry Clark averaged 16.5 points, 9.0 rebounds and shot 90.9% (10-of-11) from the field in wins over UTEP and Weber State.

MW Freshman of the Week: Wyoming F Gavin Gores averaged 9.5 points and 4.5 rebounds in wins over Austin Peay and Portland.

My five

Here are five nonconference Mountain West games I’m looking forward to this week (listed in order of when they’re played):

Wichita State at Boise State: Tuesday, 7 p.m. MT (Boise, Idaho) — The Shockers aren’t exactly what they used to be, but are the Broncos what we thought they’d be? Wichita State ranks in the top 20 nationally in getting offensive rebounds, Boise State is top 10 in NOT letting opponents get them.

Stephen F. Austin at Fresno State: Tuesday, 7 p.m. MT (Fresno, California) — This game? Seriously? The revamped Bulldogs did just knock off WAC title contender Utah Valley at home on Saturday. Now they get a Southland title contender.

Wyoming at Sam Houston State: Wednesday, 5:30 p.m. MT (Huntsville, Texas) — In the most competitive game on paper (or per the computers), Sundance Wicks takes his 4-0 Cowboys away from Laramie for the first time in an “are they for real” test. Score prediction by KenPom.com: 78-77, Pokes.

New Mexico vs. Nebraska: Thursday, 5 p.m. MT (Kansas City, Missouri, as part of the Hall of Fame Classic) — The Cornhuskers put the nation’s longest win streak (eight games) on the line. UNM ranks 359th in defensive 3-point rate (meaning teams shoot a ton of 3-pointers against the Lobos) while Nebraska ranks third in offensive 3-point rate, attempting 31.3 per game.

IU Indy at Air Force: Sunday, 3 p.m. MT (U.S. Air Force Academy, Colorado) — Hurry up and wait. First-year Division I head coach Ben Howlett wants his Jaguars to fly, ranking No. 1 in the country in tempo. Joe Scott and Air Force, ironically, want more of a ground game, ranking 352 in pace. Also, IU Indy is averaging 96.6 points per game (17th in country) and allowing 96.8 points per game (360th in the country).